Named as the “Herbal Remedy,” BBC World Challenge 2011 has short-listed the Shiva Community Forest’s project as one of the top 12 projects from around the world that demonstrate enterprise and innovation at the grassroots level and help in social and environmental benefits.

Shiva Community Forest is home to endangered species including tigers, Asian elephants and the Indian rhino. Local people have to contend with crop destruction by these wild species. Now, Shiva Community Forest has found a non-lethal way to keep rhinos away from farms by planting chamomile and mint.

In 2002, they discovered that mint and chamomile, both plants repulsive to mega herbivores like rhinos, drove them away with just their smell. Soon, they had the plants bordering their farmlands and the jungles. The farmers no longer needed to sit around in their tall bamboo towers and keep a lookout for these wild animals. They had earned themselves some leisure and a sense of security. More was to follow. The two plants not only made for an eco-friendly defense mechanism against wild animals, they also were highly valued cash crops.

In 2003, with technical support from World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Nepal, the Shiva Community Forest User’s Group (CFUG) set up a distillation plant to extract oil from their mint and chamomile harvest. Now they have 12 such distillation plants processing the essential oil which they sell at the nearest market in Nepalgunj, and from where it is brought to Kathmandu and then exported to Europe.

More than 60 percent of the families of the CFUG were below poverty line. Currently, the users group earns an average of US$13,500 per year. The economic benefits have further improved their livelihood and they’ve been able to invest in other sectors such as education, tourism and even in wildlife conservation.